A brake for immunity
A protein has been developed to block any autoimmune diseases
Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+
The new treatment aims to support the balance of immune cells to prevent autoimmunity. The proposed strategy is universal and can potentially be used to treat various autoimmune diseases.
Autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis and many others, occur against the background of an erroneous attack of immune cells on healthy body tissues. Autoimmune diseases do not have an exact cause, so scientists in search of a solution began to work with the main sign of autoimmunity — an imbalance of immune cells. The findings of their work are reported on the website of Johns Hopkins University.
"One of the ways of treatment and prevention lies inside, at the cellular level," the authors comment.
They have developed a drug that activates and increases the number of regulatory T cells (Treg), which are crucial for the balance of the immune system.
The drug consists of interleukin-2 and antibody F5111, which together contribute to the activation and growth of the number of Treg. In experiments on mouse models, it has been shown that treatment prevents them from developing an autoimmune disease.
Article by VanDyke et al. Engineered human cytokine/antibody fusion proteins expand regulatory T cells and confer autoimmune disease protection published in the journal Cell Reports – VM.
Currently, research is ongoing. So far, scientists intend to use the drug to eliminate active autoimmune diseases, but in the future they also plan to study its potential for prevention. For example, immunotherapy used in the treatment of oncological diseases can be a risk factor for the development of autoimmunity, so preventive strategies for such patients are very much in demand.
Recently , scientists from Canada stated that the most common neurodegenerative disease — Alzheimer's disease — may have an autoimmune nature. Their work demonstrates the potential mechanism of disease development from the point of view of the immune system.
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